Veg-er-tarians

I keep discovering libertarian vegetarians. It runs counter to the hypothesis that all libertarians are basically libertines, that they just want to do whatever they want to do when they want to do it without regard to morality, social consciousness, or whatever. It does, however, confirm the hypothesis that libertarians ..., uh, ... have "different" or "eccentric" ideas about morality.

No doubt this is not an extensive list. I wonder if any of the bloggers in the list below would like to join a Circle?

• Vernon Smith - not a blogger, but fairly well known libertarian
• Bjorn Lomborg - not a blogger, but fairly well known libertarian (at least more libertarian than his enemies would like)
• Megan McArdle - well known blogger and libertarian, vegetarian dabbler
• Jason Scorse - somewhat libertarian (he gets virulently attacked when he posts on free market environmentalism, but seems to have unrealistic expectations of Democrats), but committed vegetarian

[UPDATE]

• Kevin Meyer - Did not know it.
  
• Kevin Carson? - Not! (I thought there was a chance, but he disabused me of that notion. Maybe we can change his mind?)

[UPDATE 2]

• Julian Sanchez - 15 years!
  

What would it be called:

• Classical vegetarian?
• Veg-lib?
• Lib-veg?
• Vegertarian?

And what would we do? Commiserate?

It did occur to me that we might appeal to the business sense of a few key national chain restaurants to take us seriously. Instead of the old-school, PETA-style approach (spray painting "MEAT IS MURDER" or "COW KILLER" or whatever), we could send them letters that attempted to convince them of the efficiency and profitability of incorporating more vegetarian-friendly recipes. By this, I mean

• c'mon guys, does every dish have to have meat in it? Can't you just leave one bacon-free bean selection on the buffet?
• The breakfast buffet at Furrs and Golden Corral have bacon, sausage (links, patties, etc.), ham, steak, ground beef, etc. So why do you feel compelled to put diced ham and chopped bacon in the potato and other dishes as well?
• I shouldn't have to quiz the server and the cook on soup contents - mark the menu when they are vegetarian, and if it's a soup du jour, educate the wait staff
• I wonder how much the risk of bacterial contamination costs restaurants each year in terms of liability insurance, cleaning, the effect of strong oxidizers on the capital equipment, lawyers, staff training, and refrigeration? Some of this would go away if you eliminated or drastically reduced your dependence on meat.
• A well-cooked vegetarian meal could be just as enjoyable as the obligatory slab of flesh, we would pay similar prices for it, so it could be more profitable (at least, it would be until your competitors figured it out)

There are lots more social cost points to be made, but I wouldn't include those in a letter attempting to explain the business case for going vegetarian (or at least vegetarian-friendly).